Defence lawyer Julie Crowet told a Brussels Criminal Court on Thursday that she was “shocked” by the prosecutor’s request for a five-year prison sentence for her client in the Matonge trial.
She argued instead for a much lighter penalty.
Crowet said her client had acknowledged during the hearing that she acted as an intermediary between two men, one in possession of drugs and the other selling them.
She accepted that the defendant was a repeat offender under the law. In February 2025, she had already been sentenced to five years in prison for taking part in an international drug trafficking operation linked to offences dating back to 2020.
However, the lawyer argued that there were mitigating circumstances and asked the French-speaking criminal court to impose a lower level of sentence than the one sought by the prosecution. She called for a Level 2 sentence under the new Criminal Code, which carries a maximum term of three years.
Crowet also sought to downplay her client’s role in the case, describing her as a go-between who was never physically in possession of narcotics.
She noted that only one message, out of 292,470 communications extracted from another defendant’s phone, linked her client to the case. She added that a search of her client’s home had produced no evidence.
The lawyer said the new Criminal Code was intended to focus more on social reintegration than on repression or retribution. “What sentence is appropriate for social reintegration?” she asked the court.
Crowet also criticised detention conditions at Haren prison, where her client is currently being held.
According to the defence, about 160 inmates are sleeping on the floor there. This, she said, showed the lack of resources devoted to prisoners’ reintegration.
Some 46 defendants are involved in the 'Matonge' trial. They are charged with various offences related to drug trafficking, such as direct sales, managing storage facilities or 'stash houses,' bookkeeping and money laundering.
The network is believed to have generated more than € 6 million by selling cocaine, cannabis and MDMA from the Matonge and Vendôme arcades.
The criminal organisation is believed to have been operating for more than three years before a major police crackdown in November 2025.
